Mostly organic teas plus some that are also Fairtrade. Steenbergs favourite organic black teas - loose leaf tea - from beautiful Darjeeling teas to malty Assam teas. This section began as organic tea but has grown quite a lot and now includes some that are non organic to round out the range.

Now largely decorative but Tea bricks were the way tea used to be transported. Steenbergs offers a wide variety of black tea bricks, green tea bricks and pu erh tea brick, all in their own gift box with information card.

Organic pasta from Italy is one of the key staple of organic groceries, as are organic noodles. Steenbergs sells a whole variety of different shaped organic pasta including brown rice, spelt and kamut pasta. We also offer a wide variety of organic Japanese noodles including soba, pumpkin and brown rice noodles from Clearspring and King Soba.

Flavours:Very hot

Cuisine:British , European , Indian , African , Thai , Asian

Contents:Organic , Vegan , Sugar free , Salt free

Steenbergs Organic Hot Cayenne Pepper is a pure chilli product with a chilli heat in the range of 130,000 - 150,000 Scoville Heat Units, or 9/10. Steenbergs Organic Hot Cayenne Pepper has a powerful kick that will enliven any dish, but also hidden in there there are subtle flavour-enhancing quality. Steenbergs organic hot cayenne pepper is either from India or Uganda.

Cayenne was traditionally a cultivar of Capsicum frutescens, the lesser species of chilli pepper, from Cayenne in French Guiana. We use a hot and spicy Capsicum frutescens L. which we usually get from Uganda, and have common names like chilli pili pili, bird pepper or bird's eye chilli. It is hot and its heat is unpredictable, so varies from season to season. Capsicum frutescens is a herb or small shrub, with oval leaves and firm woody stems, growing to 1 metre high (3ft). They are usually grown as annuals as the yield of chilli fruits diminishes after the first year. The chilli pod is a many seeded red-orange berry with a shiny skin that can come in a wide variety of shapes, colours, thickness and spicy heat - at Steenbergs, we choose smaller fruits that are 1½ - 3½cm long and ½ – 1¼cm wide.

The aroma and flavour of fresh chillis is distinctly capsicum-like, with a hint of sweetness. Their pungent bite comes from the levels of various capsaicionoids, particularly capsaicin, which are present in the fruit; capsaicin causes the brain to release endorphins and so feelings of wellbeing. To make dry chillis, the fresh chillies are dried indoors at 20-25C (68-77F) to allow them to fully ripen, then they are dried outside on concrete floors, roofs of buildings or woven mats. At night they are heaped into piles and covered with tarpaulins to protect them, before being spread out again during the day. It takes roughly three days for the moisture content to be brought down to 10% from 70-80% when fresh; as an approximation, 100kg of fresh chillies yields 25-35kg of dried chilli spice. For more information on cayenne pepper, visit Ingredientia and Wikipedia.

With the popularity of Indian cooking, we have become very fond of chilli in our food, whether dried or via a table sauce. I am forever adding some heat from a sauce to add some spice into insipid and bland chicken, soup or vegetables. Why not also make a simple sauce by adding 3 or 4 fresh chillies or dried organic Birds Eye chilli to a bottle of sherry for a few days, then adding it to food as and when needed? Ground cayenne pepper combines well with almost all other spices and is found in recipes ranging from bhajis through to chutneys and tomato ketchup. For more inspiration, try the BBC Website.

Steenbergs Organic Cayenne Pepper is a core part of Steenbergs range of over 400 organic spices, peppers, seasonings, herbs and flavoured sugars. It is not sold into our retail customers, so is exclusive to our web store customers and via Steenbergs at Amazon.